The current entry process for thoroughbred racing revolves around the condition book, which lists a set of projected races for each race day in the track's season-long program. Each condition book publishes approximately two to four weeks of races broken down into race days. For example, a race office may publish each condition book with three weeks of races, which includes nine racing days (three a week). So, if there are 25 racing weeks in a season, then the race office would publish between eight and 10 condition books during the race meeting. The condition book is usually published two to four weeks before the first race day's entry date. Each race day includes a set of races designated by the race office with some input from trainers before the book is published. The set of races usually includes 10 races with approximately five races called sub-races, which take the place of races in the first set if any of those races do not fill. For a race to fill, it must have a minimum number of entries (e.g., 5 entries). The race office decides before entry day how many races they would like to have on a race card, and usually the races with the highest field size make the race card with exceptions for stakes races and a few other situations.
The condition book gets its name from the specified set of conditions to balance the competition in a race program. The conditions include a horse's age, sex, and race records. For example, a maiden race is for horses that have never won a race. Once a horse wins a race (“breaks its maiden”) it can never run in a maiden race again. The races are then filtered further by claiming price and race distance. Typically, the higher the claiming price, the better the horses, and vice versa.
Entry day is usually three to seven days before race day. This allows racetracks to send out their lists of entries with post positions and jockeys (“overnights”) to a horse racing database service (e.g., Equibase, provided by Equibase Company LLC). The database service can then disseminate the information to handicappers, newspapers, etc. The race office sets a predetermined time for when entries open and close (e.g., 9 a.m. and noon, respectively), after which they will draw the post positions. A race track may then post the list of races from the condition book (e.g., on display screen). As trainers enter their horses for a specific race, the race office updates the screen by displaying the current field size and race status on the screen. After a period of time, before entries close, the race office will begin to declare races as “in” or “out” based on their projected field size. This gives trainers an opportunity to find another race before entries close if their original race does not fill.
Many entry days include multiple race days. For example, a Wednesday entry day may include entries for Saturday races and Sunday races. Other entry days may include only one race day. For example, horses may be entered for Friday's races on the previous Friday.
This entry process is common to many race tracks, but it suffers from many drawbacks that have not yet been solved. One major problem of the current entry process is that the condition book can no longer fulfill its role as an adequate tool for both the race office and trainers, which has a negative trickle-down effect on owners, jockeys, and the rest of the horseracing industry. This problem is caused by the failure of the racing industry to adapt to conditions within the industry, including an insufficient racehorse population.
The lack of confidence in the condition book has resulted in drastic consequences for every type of horseman. Owners have a much harder time supporting the day rates of their horses when they cannot get their horses in races.
Pointing horses for specific races and having any confidence in the condition book's race projections have declined with the horse population. Trainers no longer know when races will fill, so they have to keep their horses ready at all times. This prevents trainers from conditioning their horses up to optimum performance and can make rigorous training frivolous, which leads to less starts during the span of the season.
Most of all, the process hurts the racetrack. When owners cannot afford to stay in the game, fewer horses are available to run, and the race office has to settle with smaller field sizes just to make races go. The smaller the field size, the less betting interests for the public to wager on. In many situations the field size is so small it literally eliminates exotic wagering possibilities (such as superfectas, in which the bettor attempts to predict which horses will finish first, second, third, and fourth in a particular race) that would have brought in thousands of dollars to the total race revenue (or “handle”). The cycle then affects the horsemen again because the next season's purses are built by the money earned in the previous year's handle.
It is estimated that 40% or less of a typical condition book's races, including sub-races, actually make their designated race day. The remaining races are built throughout the race week, which is done by trainers who go into the race office and request a race be written in for their horses. The trainer usually has to prove that at least one or two other trainers are willing to enter their horse in that race so that the race office does not write dozens of extra races filled by only one horse. When a race does not fill, trainers and owners are left scrambling trying to find a race for their horse before entries close. The condition book gives an educated guess of what races might be run that day, but never with any certainty.